WORLD CUP RECORDS (Part 43) - SCORER WITH LONGEST SPAN
Scorer with longest span: Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi, after scoring a goal in the quarter-finals against Netherlands, has extended his record for the most time spanning goals in the World Cup to 16 years 176 days. So much time has passed since the day (16 June 2006) when he scored in the World Cup for the first time (against Serbia).
Cristiano Ronaldo, who also scored a goal in 2006 (one day later than Messi), would have had the opportunity to challenge him at this World Cup if Portugal had qualified for the semi-finals. But since his team is already out, Messi will remain the record holder for the remainder of the current edition, while still being able to extend the record further by a few more days if he scores again in the remaining two matches.
| GOAL-SCORERS WITH | LONGEST | SPAN AT | WORLD CUPS | ||
| Player | Country | Span (Y-D) | First goal | Last goal | |
| 1 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 16-176 | 16/06/2006 | 09/12/2022 |
| 2 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | 16-160 | 17/06/2006 | 24/11/2022 |
| 3 | Miroslav Klose | Germany | 12-037 | 01/06/2002 | 08/07/2014 |
| 4 | Michael Laudrup | Denmark | 12-016 | 08/06/1986 | 24/06/1998 |
| 5 | Uwe Seeler | Germany | 12-006 | 08/06/1958 | 14/06/1970 |
| 6 | Diego Maradona | Argentina | 12-003 | 18/06/1982 | 21/06/1994 |
| 7 | Pelé | Brazil | 12-002 | 19/06/1958 | 21/06/1970 |
| 8 | Sami Al-Jaber | Saudi Arabia | 11-354 | 25/06/1994 | 14/06/2006 |
| 9 | Henrik Larsson | Sweden | 11-339 | 16/07/1994 | 20/06/2006 |
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the only two players to have scored with a span of five World Cup editions (16 years). Seven players more scored with a time coverage of 4 editions (about 12 years).